WASHINGTON – Pushing back against book bans across the country, Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) was joined by his Democratic colleagues as he introduced the ‘Fight Book Bans Act’ on Tuesday.
“The far right, fascist, MAGA extreme has caught up to the fact that their agenda is unpopular with young people, because it turns out young people don’t want fascism,” Frost said. “Instead of changing their policies to appeal to young people, they want to change the way young people learn in schools to try to change what they think.”
As books containing content about race, sexuality and gender continue to be pulled off shelves across the country, school boards and districts have come under fire as parents remain split about their role in their children’s education. While Republican lawmakers claim that parents should have a choice in the content their children have access to, Democrats believe that these controversies are further straining an education system that is already underserved.
Citing the cost schools have to pay to investigate controversial books, Frost said he believes schools need to be equipped with funding to fight back against censorship and authoritarian control. To do this, the bill would fund school districts up to $100,000 to oppose challenges against materials in their libraries.
Frost was joined by his Democratic colleagues including Rep. Jaimie Raskin (D-Md.), Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas), Rep. Shontel Brown (D-Ohio) and Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas), in their attempt to take the first steps to protect free speech around the country.
“We live in a society where there is a free circulation of ideas, discussion and dialogue,” Raskin said. “You’ve got to defend the full thing. You can’t just defend the speech that you love. That’s easy. You’ve got to defend the speech that you hate.”
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